A step-by-step guide to writing your landing page

A landing page is a self-contained web page designed to sell a product or service. It lets a potential customer arrive on your site and gather all the information they need to buy without leaving the page.

Sounds great. But that means this one page needs to work 10 times harder than any other on your site. You need to deliver all the right information, in the right order, in the right way to lead your customer to that all-important 'Buy’ button and beyond.

If you’re currently sweating over a landing page, don’t worry. Follow my step by step guide and get yours ready to sell.

1. What’s your goal

   Just like when you’re writing any other page of your website (for example, your About page) it’s important to think about what your goals are for the page. Do you want people to sign up to your mailing list? Book your course? Buy your product? This will influence the rest of your decisions so get clear now.

2. Plan your content

   First, make a list of all the things your customer wants to know before they buy. Let’s say you're selling a yoga retreat. They’ll probably want to know how long the retreat lasts, where it’s located, how to get there, what activities there are on offer, what the food will be like (just me?!) and how much it costs.

   Next, make a list of what makes your yoga retreat so great. Is it the fantastic teachers? The bargain price? The unique location in a treehouse in Bali? Imagine you were trying to convince a yogi to come to your retreat and not your rival’s, what would you say?

   Finally, make a list of potential objections your customer might have to getting their credit card out. In the yoga example, customers might worry the yoga will be too advanced or too simple for their level.

3. Prioritise

   Now you’ve got this brilliant list of all the information you’re going to include on your landing page. Well done! Next, you’re going to prioritise your messages.

   What’s the most important thing your customers should know about your product? And the next? If you’re struggling, imagine you’re at the top of an escalator and your customer is on the top step moving downwards. You can tell them about your product as they travel away from you, but the further away they get the less likely they are to hear. What are you going to start by telling them?

   I’d recommend starting with your biggest benefit to draw them in. Once they’re interested, give them enough information to decide whether your service is right for them. Then you could hit them with more benefits.

   Those objections you created might come in handy now. Imagine you’re chatting to your customer. They say, "Hey, but what if this yoga retreat is too difficult for me?” You can say, “Classes are adapted to suit all levels.”

4. Write your copy

   Now that you’ve hashed out your structure, write it up into copy your customers will respond to. You don’t have to be a copywriter to do a good job here. Just aim to embody your brand voice, be as clear as possible and focus on the reader rather than on yourself.

   For our yoga retreat, rather than saying “We believe in the power of yoga to reset your mind and body after a stressful year” you could say “Reset your mind and body ready for the new year.”

   Head here for more copywriting tips to make your writing better, fast.

5. Write your call to action

   I’d recommend two calls to action on your page. One as soon as you’ve shared the bare minimum about your product, just enough that your most enthusiastic customer would be delighted to sign up. Your second should sit at the bottom of the page to catch everyone else.

   Lead your call to action with an active verb and make sure it sounds like something you’d say in real life. Our yogis might enjoy something like, “Join us”.

6. Testimonials

   Nothing will make your landing page more convincing than a well-placed testimonial. People don’t want to waste money or feel stupid, so knowing others have made the good decision they’re about to will help them commit.

7. Write a banging headline

   My best tip for great headlines? Write loads of them. I mean like 30. Get inspiration from other businesses, keep it focused on your reader and how they’ll benefit from your product. Don’t use ChatGPT. Its headline ideas are invariably crap.

8. Edit

   No copy worth its salt goes straight out without an edit. Step away from your work for at least 24 hours, come back to it with a fresh head and make changes. Be ruthless. Focus on making it shorter and making sure your meaning is crystal clear. Review again and make sure it embodies your brand personality.

9. Proofread

   It’s no good doing all this work if you’re not going to check it. Follow my guide to checking your copy before it goes live to make sure you cover all bases.

And that’s it. You have your landing page ready to go live.

To have me look at your landing page or write you a new one from scratch, send me an email and let’s talk.